Canadian Tire Motorsports Park’s Speedway - SPEEDWAY RACE RECAP FOR MAY 19, 2012

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May 23, 2012 10:15 pm

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SPEEDWAY RACE RECAP FOR MAY 19, 2012

(Bowmanville, ON – May 23, 2012) It was a picture-perfect way to kick of the 2012 stock car season at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park’s Speedway, as a massive crowd was treated to a full card of racing on the challenging half-mile oval. Under warm and clear conditions, interrupted only occasionally by fireworks from the road course next door, the Lucas Oil Pure Stocks, the Bob’s Towing Thunder Cars, the Late Models and the Techtonix Open-Wheeled Modifieds put on a spectacular show, offering an indication of things to come this year for the Speedway faithful.

The Late Models

In what turned out to be a three-car battle past track champions, Mark Gordon (#52) survived race-long pressure from Kyle ‘Wheely’ Donaldson and Darren Kearnan to claim the victory in the season opening feature for the Late Models.

Lining up side-by-side on Row Three, Gordon and Donaldson charged to the green flag and immediately set off in pursuit of the race leading #90 of Ed Beatty. Within two laps, the duo had worked their way to the front of the pack, with Kearnan lurking close behind in third place. Despite trailing an increasingly dense smoke trail (“We had a leaking rear end seal”), Gordon maintained his lead, defending his position against repeated challenges from Donaldson, as the race leading pair took the checkered flag in the 20-lap finale in a nose-to-tail finish.

“I was holding on for dear life,” laughed Gordon. “Kyle had the better car tonight, but I was in front and able to choose my line. He ran me clean and I’m sure we’ll be doing this type of thing again all season.”

Crossing the stripe a further three car lengths in arrears was Kearnan’s #55 (the winner of the night’s twin heat races), with Craig Perry (#37) taking the checkers in a distant fourth place, and Beatty rounding out the top five finishers.

The Bob’s Towing Thunder Cars

‘Big John’ Baker Jr. picked up right where he left off in 2011, as the Oshawa driver scored an evening ‘Hat Trick’, piloting his #63 Chevy to two heat race victories and then easing away from the field to take the feature race victory by six car lengths over the #77 of Chad Strawn (#77) and defending Kawartha Speedway Thunder Car champion Ken Donaldson Jr.

Asserting the power of his newly-prepared mount, Baker slid past the race leading #27 of Terry Shaw on lap two at the end of the 800-foot long back straight and never again was seriously challenged. Donaldson, then in second place, ably tried to pressure the leader until the event’s halfway mark, when he was tracked down and passed by Strawn. Running out the laps in order, the gap between the three frontrunners stabilized, and Baker scored the win by four cars lengths.

“After all the rule changes, we had to practically build a new car this winter. To come out of the box like a rocket is simply amazing. And I have to say that I couldn’t have done it without all of the help from (wife) Sarah and the rest of the family,” stated Baker.

The Lucas Oil Pure Stocks

Having shared the winner’s glory in the night’s opening pair of Pure Stock heat dashes, Corey Hayward and Willy Howells then went head-to-head for the Victor’s Laurels in the 20-lap feature event.

Running ‘Clean and Green’ through the feature contest, Hayward managed to squirt into the race lead on lap three, with Howells tracking into second spot one lap later. Unable to mount a consistent challenge, Howells was forced to settle for the runner-up position, trailing Hayward by six car lengths at the checkered flag.

In the most heated battle on the track, Craig Wilson managed to claim a well-deserved third place result, holding off the persistent Bryan Holmes (#82) and Henk Mulders (#45) for the position.

The Techtonix Open-Wheeled Modifieds

Saturday night featured the first appearance (of six) at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Speedway for the Techtonix Open-Wheeled Modifieds racing division. And at the conclusion of the 20-lap feature, it was a pair of familiar faces reaching the Speedway podium.

Dwight Brown, a five-time Mosport Speedway Modified champion, brought his familiar red #2 Modified to the track and proceeded to score, two season-opening heat race wins. Taking the green flag from the middle of the Techtonix Mod field, Brown asserted his domination, powering past series rookie Josh Gruntz (#31) on lap six to grab the race lead. From the front of the pack, Brown set the pace, only pushing his car when “I couldn’t tell who was where, anymore”. Watching his mirrors, Brown soon discovered that longtime rival Darren Kearnan (#46) was now in second place and on a charge, but the Beeton resident held his spot and claimed the evening sweep, crossing the line with a six car length advantage over Kearnan.

“We’ve raced these Modifieds forever. It’s like putting on a favourite pair of jeans; it’s just so comfortable to drive. I followed the #31 (Gruntz) for a couple of laps to watch him; he really did a great job. He’s going to be fun to race against this year, and so will everybody else in this class.”

Gruntz gamely held on to third place, trailing Kearnan at the checkers by two car lengths. Bill Pickford (#61) and Brian Strawn (#77) rounded out the top five finishers.